Are You Really in Control: Part 2

Surrendering and letting go is difficult. We feel that by surrendering we’re giving up control which makes us feel very vulnerable. We are open and a target for whatever may happen. But Tolle says that by surrendering we stop resisting and when we stop resisting, that’s when we can take effective action.

Have you ever had a time when you were in a blind rage or you were so upset that you just responded without thinking? It’s almost like experiencing a tunnel vision where all you can see is what’s in front of you and you fight back from the attack. You just lash out. You’re fighting from your back against the wall. The results vary and often include more fighting and upset.

Let’s take that same situation. Only this time you took a few steps back and took a few deep breaths. You realize what happened happened and cannot be changed. That is surrender. It is what it is. Now, from this space you take action. By accepting that you cannot change what happened, you are able to choose a different path. Maybe you need to dissolve a contract, maybe you change your behavior that contributed to the situation or maybe you end the relationship. Instead of reacting you see the various paths you can take. In this space you are more empowered to choose.

You may not always be able to surrender to what’s occurring in the physical world around you. Tolle suggests that we can always surrender to what’s going on within. This is when you feel what you feel. When you fully feel your feelings, you are also surrendering and stop resisting. Our natural response is to run away from pain and whatever has caused it. Tolle suggests surrendering to it instead. This isn’t about the cause, it is about the actual feeling. If you are angry, feel the anger. Where are you feeling it in your body? How is it showing up? Feel the pain in your body and each pulse that radiates. Feel what you feel. By doing this you are surrendering rather than resisting and that is when change can occur.

Besides changing our experience, why else should we surrender? Our physical body carries the weight of resistance and that leads to dis-ease and disease.

Your physical form-your body-becomes hard and rigid through resistance. Tension arises in different parts of the body, and the body as a whole contracts. The free flow of life energy through the body, which is essential for its healthy functioning, is greatly restricted. Bodywork and certain forms of physical therapy can be helpful in restoring this flow, but unless you practice surrender in your everyday life, those things can only give temporary symptom relief since the cause-the resistance pattern-has not been dissolved.” – Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not spend my days going to the doctor and taking a bunch of medications because I’ve been resisting. I want to be healthy and mobile. I want to live without dis-ease.

Use this as a reminder that you have a choice each day and each moment to surrender or resist. By surrendering you are free. By resisting you are imprisoned.

Are you ready to let it go?